What to Read This Weekend?

7/17/2025

“Red leader to blue leader,” Lucas said into the end of the tie draped around his neck. He made a static sound deep in his throat and continued, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”

Forge stopped fighting with the wristband/transmitter Porter had insisted he wear and turned to Lucas. Declan, who stood on the opposite side of the room, met Forge’s gaze and shook his head.

Blair made an entrance from the adjoining room. He held two ties up and asked Declan, “Which one?”

“The dark green,” Declan said.

“Why are you asking him?” Forge tried to sound offended, but apparently no one bought it. Declan rolled his eyes and Lucas snorted a laugh.

Blair put the tie around his neck and folded his shirt collar over it. He asked Forge, “How many tuxes do you own?”

“Uh. I…um. That’s what I have a dress uniform for,” Forge grumbled.

Blair turned back to Declan and lifted his eyebrows.

Declan smirked and said, “Three. All custom made.” He sighed and motioned Lucas closer. “Let me do that.”

“What?” Lucas’s hand went to his now-knotted tie. “It’s in a bow. And I’m a package.” He glanced over his shoulder at Forge. “Please, we all know your idea of dressing up is clean jeans, socks with your shoes, and a shirt with buttons.”

Declan’s shoulders sagged, and he muttered something in French Forge thought wasn’t very flattering, but he couldn’t remember the exact translation. After Lucas’s tie was in place and properly tied, Declan turned to Forge. “Now you. Come here. You’re not going out there looking like that.”

“Yeah, about that. I’m sorry you’re all getting dragged into this. It’s not normal—”

“We know,” Blair, Lucas, and Declan chorused. Declan gave both ends of Forge’s tie a yank and grumbled, “Jonas, stop fidgeting.”

Forge shoved his hands into his pockets, huffed a breath, and managed to stand still for the minute it took Declan to adjust his tie and straighten his medals. “Thank you,” Forge said. When Blair snickered Forge glared at him. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Blair nodded and pointed to his own, perfectly situated, tie. Forge mumbled, “Show off.”

They had been assigned adjoining rooms in the hotel where the reception would take place in a few hours. The instructions were to prepare for the event at the hotel. Everything each of them carried had been scanned and searched. Forge thought the whole thing a little odd, but he hadn’t done anything of this nature since shortly after World War I and that time it was with military police, so what did he know? The work he and Declan occupied themselves with had been more along the lines of covert operations and with more than one agency. Sometimes more than one country.

Forge shook off the feeling of impending calamity he’d been experiencing since the first meeting with Porter Samuels. None of this felt right, though Forge didn’t particularly feel in danger. There had been two more meetings with Samuels. One just he and Lucas attended, and then yesterday, one with all four of them. Lucas had inquired during both conferences about his reputation preceding him, and each time he’d been ignored. It had raised Forge’s hackles, and it was easy for him to see Declan had the same reaction.

Lucas had some training through the police department, though he was more involved in crimes after the fact. Forge had been teaching Blair hand-to-hand combat techniques, but Blair was far from prepared to take on the types of situations Forge could foresee arising at this sort of event. He worried that if something serious went down, neither was terribly prepared. Not without Lucas using his wolf or Blair his vampire abilities, and Forge didn’t have confidence they’d be able to do that in this instance. Since many humans had no idea they existed, werewolves and vampires kept a low profile to avoid detection. Lucas called it hiding out in the open, and it was the truth.

For close to a century and a half, when they weren’t at their home base of Boggslake, Forge and Declan had moved around. They’d join whatever side of a fight they agreed with, sometimes as soldiers, more often in the guise of intelligence or military investigative work. Forge worried for Declan’s safety, but not in the same way he did for Blair’s and Lucas’s.

It was a fact Forge had learned long ago, vampires made great spies. Declan had joked more than once that it was as if vampires were made specifically for a secret-stealing life. Forge tended to agree for the most part, but there were notable exceptions. When it came to vampires like Blair, his opinion wavered. Blair was his soulmate, and Forge conceded, if only to himself, that his judgment was clouded because of their relationship. On the other hand, he’d learned many skills over the years. There was no reason a man as intelligent as Blair couldn’t learn them as well.

They were as prepared as they were going to be for their final briefing from Samuels. Then they’d head downstairs to the main ballroom where the evening’s events would take place.

“Damn, too bad you guys can’t see yourselves in this mirror. We look good.” Lucas drew the last word out as he peered in a large mirror over the dresser and brushed one hand through his brown hair.

“What do we do now?” Blair asked.

Declan settled in a chair and shrugged. “I guess we wait. Though if that man tells me one more time how much our country appreciates my sacrifice, I might have to sacrifice him.”

Forge smiled when a few seconds later there was a sharp knock on the door. Declan looked at the ceiling and groaned softly as Forge mouthed the words, “He probably heard that.” Forge opened the door, stepped back, and waved Porter Samuels inside.

A second man, slightly taller and beefier than Samuels, stood a step behind him, hands folded in front of him. He had crystal-blue eyes and short, blond hair with enough of a wave to make Forge think it would be very curly if it were longer. Like Samuels he wore a simple black suit, a wristband that matched the one given to Forge, the same type of earbud Forge was shown in his office, and the Secret Service lapel pin. A quick glance at Declan confirmed he saw the additional pin on the man’s suit coat right under the Secret Service one.

Declan sat straighter in his chair and met Forge’s gaze for a split second before focusing on the man with Samuels. Blair was learning fast. His utter shock—felt by Forge—barely registered on his face. For once Lucas stood quietly.

One vampire in the Secret Service, Forge could believe. But two?

“Kai Richter is a member of my team,” Samuels explained.

Forge held out his hand. “Jonas Forge.”

Kai Richter was apparently the strong, silent type. His firm handshake was accompanied by a curt nod. Forge willed him to open his mouth and speak. He was prepared to bet the man had a German accent, or a fake American one. Kai smiled and stepped past Forge into the room. Declan didn’t move, but Forge saw him focus for a split second on a ring Kai wore before Declan stood and looked at Samuels.

Samuels held a small object out to Forge. “You’re the only one here who will need one of these since all of the other local police here tonight are human and have the standard-issue earbuds.” Forge took the unit and held it in one hand. Samuels pressed one side of the device. “You activate it here. Keep it in and on the entire time.” Forge put the earbud in and waited. “Since I tend to stick out like a sore thumb, we’ll be close by, monitoring the room. Blend in and keep your eyes open.”

“Uh-huh,” Forge muttered. He held up his wrist. “If I have this, why do I need an earbud?”

Samuels smiled and Forge was sure it was meant to be reassuring, however, it verged on creepy. “We’re like Klingons, redundant systems as backup.”

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up, and Declan folded his arms over his chest, looking more menacing than Forge had seen in years. Blair had slid behind them, turned partially away, and was looking down at his phone, no doubt scouring his sources for one Kai Richter.

“Very good, then. Take up your positions downstairs in thirteen minutes,” Samuels said before any of them could speak. He turned on his heels, Richter right behind him, and left them alone again.

“That ring is fifteenth century—Austrian, I think.” Declan moved to stand beside Forge while they both peered out the door.

“Two vampires in the Secret Service?” Lucas sputtered.